#lifequotes #lovequotes #inspirationalquotes #motivationalquotes #girlyquotes #may2
Author: signordal
Iran: The Miracle That Wasn’t
Iran’s presidential election on May 19 will in all likelihood be won by the incumbent, the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani. In 2015, two years after he came to power, Rouhani pulled the country back from the brink of confrontation with the West when he guided Iran toward the historic nuclear deal with the Obama administration. But the economic miracle that was promised by the Rouhani government hasn’t happened, and the sense of anti-climax is palpable—a disillusionment that has broadened into a general contempt for politics, politicians, and promises that aren’t kept.
How We’re Harmed by Our Dissatisfaction with Ourselves
By Leo Babauta
Over the last five years or so, as I’ve worked with thousands of people on changing their habits, I’ve come to a realization: dissatisfaction with ourselves is a pretty universal phenomenon.
We are unhappy with who we are, sometimes in small ways but often in very fundamental ways.
We doubt ourselves, feel inadequate, dislike our looks, criticize our failing harshly, feel uncertain about whether we’re worthy of praise or love.
The result is anxiety, procrastination, fear, and the inability to change our habits. I’ve seen so many people who are unable to stick to an exercise program or healthy diet changes because they don’t believe in themselves. At the heart of their failure to make positive changes is a deep feeling of unworthiness and inadequacy.
Every time we fail, we are harsh with ourselves, and we see it as just more evidence that we suck. Every time things are less-than-ideal, we blame ourselves (or, if we don’t want to be blamed, we blame other people).
What if, instead of beating ourselves up (or blaming others), we just accepted what happened and then took appropriate action? What if we took this as an opportunity to see our humanness, to love ourselves, to see ourselves as innately good?
This dissatisfaction with ourselves doesn’t just hurt our health habits … it hurts our productivity and ability to focus on meaningful work. We doubt whether we’re up to facing this task filled with discomfort and uncertainty, so we look for relief from all of it instead of just trusting that we’re up to the task. We procrastinate, seek distraction, try to run from the uncertainty.
Our relationships are also harmed by this dissatisfaction with ourselves — when we don’t believe in ourselves, we are insecure in our relationships. That can result in jealousy, anger, fear of losing someone, and treating the other person with distrust. That’s not a good recipe for a good relationship, and if the relationship becomes shaky, we often either blame the other person or see it as more evidence that we suck.
Our happiness is marred by this dissatisfaction with ourselves— if we don’t like ourselves, don’t trust ourselves, don’t see ourselves as worthy of love … then how can we truly be happy in each moment? Underlying each moment is a dissatisfaction, a lack of contentedness, a wish that things would be different.
These are just a handful of ways that dissatisfaction with ourselves is harming us. This problem actually affects every area of our lives, from jobs to finances to parenting and more.
The Way Out: Loving Ourselves
Instead of harming ourselves with this self-doubt, this constant feeling of inadequacy … what if we loved ourselves instead?
What if we trusted ourselves, believed in our basic worthiness, believed that we would be OK even if things didn’t work out as planned, believed that we are loving, kind, and innately good human beings?
That would change everything: we’d be more trusting in relationships, we’d procrastinate less because we knew we could handle uncertainty and discomfort, we’d become healthier because we would see healthy food and exercise as just two more ways to love ourselves. We’d seek ways to love others, to serve the world with meaningful work, to enjoy the basic goodness of every moment. We’d be happier, and in the times when we’re not happy, we’d still be able to find contentment in the middle of difficulty.
Of course, that’s much easier said than done. We have so many years of experience in disliking ourselves, in being harsh with ourselves, that loving ourselves can seem impossible. It’s not. You can do this.
It starts with the simple intention to love yourself, to see yourself as adequate and worthy of love, to wish for your own happiness and the relief from pain and stress.
Once you have this intention, you can practice a daily session of wishing for your own happiness, wishing for an end to your pain. A daily session of gratitude for the good things about yourself.
You can start to see the basic goodness in everything you do, even if it’s less than perfect (as all humans are). You can see the good hearted nature in every one of your actions, even the ones that are harmful. You can start to see the good-hearted nature in what everyone else does as well.
This is the practice, and it takes lots of practice. But loving yourself might just be the most important project you’ve ever undertaken, because it will change your world.
My New Course: How to Love Yourself
I’m happy to offer a new course, called “How to Love Yourself,” as part of my Sea Change Program.
I invite you to join us in this 4-week course, by joining Sea Change today.
Sea Change is my monthly membership program for changing habits, learning mindfulness and changing your life. Each month, we focus on something different, and this month it’s procrastination.
What you’ll get with this course:
- Two video lessons per week
- A challenge to do a short compassion session six days a week for the whole month
- A weekly check-in for the challenge so you stay accountable
- A live video webinar where you can ask me questions
I encourage you to join me and have your efforts to change your old patterns be supported by me and more than a thousand other Sea Change members.
11 Secrets To Building High Self-Esteem To Find Happiness
A high self-esteem means you know what you’re worth and can hold your head high when others are losing theirs. This definition is relatively basic but, in life, so many people still don’t understand what they are worth.
Building self-esteem is like forming a new habit. It takes small incremental efforts before it can become second nature. To help you out, here are some of the tips you can use.
Learn To Improve Yourself
Cherish opportunities to improve yourself. Start by acquiring knowledge and living through life experiences. This way, you’ll be able to appreciate your abilities and make good judgments that can inspire other people. Building self-esteem requires you to constantly experience self-improvement.
Know What You Want
Most people who have low self-esteem do not know what they want. They look to other people and wonder how others can be so successful.
If you want to boost your confidence, you should know what you want. Set clear goals and be passionate about meeting them. Even just one cleared goal should improve your self-esteem dramatically.
Believe In Something Worth It
What do you stand for? What do you believe in that is worth protecting and, if need be, dying for?
To build high self-esteem, you need to answer these questions. Unless you believe in something worth it, you will be swayed by anything. As soon as you believe in something worth it, you will be able to understand your limitations and know what to avoid when your belief is challenged.
Exercise Regularly
Those who engage in regular physical exercise will experience a remarkable improvement in self-esteem. Regular exercises will help you stay in shape and boost your confidence.
See Also: 19 Ways to Get Motivated to Exercise
Learn To Be Yourself
I have seen so many people try to live their lives as others do, without considering exactly what they want. This is a prelude to unhappiness.
To start building self-esteem, you need to learn to be yourself and not someone else. Those who have high self-esteem are unique people. They do, see, think and act differently. Their uniqueness comes from within.
They are not moved by ephemeral things. They do what they think is right and they do not listen too much to what others might say.
Learn Perseverance
You need to learn to persevere. This will help you go through those periods when the flood of discouragements, failures and opposition mounts.
Failures and setbacks will surely come, but your ability to persevere is what will see you through. Perseverance will help you appreciate hard work and gain confidence.
See Also: Don’t Be A Quitter: Perseverance Is One Of The Most Underestimated Skills of Successful People
Understand Life
To build high self-esteem, you should fully understand life, its purpose and what it truly means. Many people consider acquiring many cars, houses, jewelry and other material things as being successful. Your inability to understand life will make you hold onto things that do not matter. It’s like chasing shadows and going after the wind.
Avoid Discussing People
Avoid discussing people if you seek to boost your self-esteem. People who put others down or work to discredit others are insecure beings. As humans, it’s normal for people to commit mistakes. This, however, doesn’t mean that they’re bad.
Look at yourself before criticizing others. Will you be happy when people discuss you behind your back or discuss your mistakes in a way to ridicule you? If you will not be happy, then don’t do it. Focus on issues and use your time wisely. Instead of wasting time discussing people, work on achieving your goals.
Help Others Succeed
There is so much competition in the world today and people are competing with one another in almost every aspect of life. As much as possible, do not take part in this trend.
Instead, think of ways to help others. Most people with high self-esteem are adding value to people’s lives and inspiring them to succeed. They are always thinking of how to make the world a better place. When you help others succeed, you will also succeed.
Learn Something New
One way to build your self-esteem is to constantly update and build your knowledge. Reading is a good example. When you read, you learn something new and you improve yourself in the process.
Another way to learn something new is to accept feedback from mentors and colleagues. You can use what they have to say to improve, grow and gain more self-confidence.
Be Generous
What are you giving to others?
Being generous to others can help boost self-esteem. Remember, givers never lack.
These are the ways I have gained high self-esteem over the years. Practice them consistently and you’ll find building self-esteem a lot easier.
The post 11 Secrets To Building High Self-Esteem To Find Happiness appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Inbetween Architecture Completes a Home Renovation in Doncaster, Australia
This house, dating from 1970, was recently remodeled to make it suitable and comfortable for a family of five members. It is located in Melbourne’s Doncaster suburb, in Australia, and one of its wonderful advantages is the view over Lake Ruffey. Its remodeling was completed by Inbetween Architecture, who had the enormous task of converting a dark and old house into a place full of light and with all the..
The post Inbetween Architecture Completes a Home Renovation in Doncaster, Australia appeared first on HomeDSGN.
Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska is an epic…
Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska is an epic experience. Seeing a humpback whale breach in the wild is one of the most exhilarating moments possible for nature lovers. These massive mammals swim 3,000 miles from their winter waters near Hawaii and Mexico to spend the summer feeding in the rich ocean waters off the Alaska coast. All the added blubber doesn’t seem to hurt their leaping ability. Photo by Dragana Connaughton (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl).
5 Rules To Overcome Limitations
If you take a look at the most successful people in the world, you’ll quickly notice that they all have something in common. These people have conquered their limitations and they don’t follow the norm.
If you would like to achieve the same status, here are some of the best tips on how to overcome limitations.
Be Fearless
Most people want to get rid of their fear of failure. It’s the one thing they think is holding them back from being successful.
You may find that the real reason you have yet to succeed is because:
– You fear all the hard work that must be done
– You fear the commitment necessary both during and after you have succeeded
– You fear going out of your comfort zone
On some level, that’s totally understandable. But, if you truly want to succeed, you must work harder than everyone else. And to do that, you’ve got to get rid of anything holding you back.
I got rid of my fear by simply jumping into it and never looking back. I recommend you do the same.
Let Your Creativity Blossom
The second rule to becoming limitless is to always be original.
I am not talking about thinking in an original way. Anyone can do that. What I am talking about is having the courage to act on your plans. It’s going out there and implementing your ideas so that you can succeed faster.
That’s how successful people operate. They let their mind free and then support their amazing ideas by taking action.
My advice would be to promise yourself that the next time you get a brilliant idea that can help you succeed financially, think it through thoroughly and then go for it!
Don’t hesitate. That’s what losers do.
Asking Questions Is a Waste of Time
If you really need to know the answer to something, you should ask, right?
Wrong.
Personally, I avoid asking people questions, especially if I could easily find the answer to them if I did some research myself. By asking others for answers, you start to rely on them. Relying on others limit you, which is exactly what you want to avoid if you want to overcome limitations.
Another reason you should stop asking questions is because the answer is probably within you already. Oftentimes, we ask questions only because we seek others’ confirmation and not the answer itself.
That’s why I say, if you dig deep down within yourself, you’ll be able to find the answers. Therefore, follow your guts and trust no one but yourself. You are the only one who truly knows what you want.
Stop Doing What Others Do
Let’s say you got 2 choices:
1. Get hired by a company
2. Create a company yourself and hire others
Most people would choose option 1 because that’s the norm and that’s what the majority does. This is exactly what I want you to completely stop doing. In fact, I recommend that you start playing around by doing one or two things each day that go against what the majority does.
As an example, If I were to say if I like Donald Trump or not, I could play around by saying “yes” when everyone else answered “no”. Of course, I will have to argue about my choice after, but that’s part of the game.
Playing against the norm is a great achievement because that means you’ll no longer be limited by the rules society places on your shoulders.
Believe With All Your Heart
If you stop believing in what you preach and practice, it’s just a matter of time before you meet the wall. You have to believe in your ideas so strongly because when the going gets tough, your mind will do one thing and that is to lie to you.
Ignore your thoughts and say “I believe!” instead.
Every big star, every big name, and every successful human being on this planet used to be big believers as well. In fact, don’t take it from me. Take it from one of the most successful people.
“You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.”
– Oprah Winfrey
As you may have noticed, all these rules have something in common. They appeal to you on a personal level because success is an individual process.
There are no limits when you don’t limit yourself. Use these tips and start learning how to overcome limitations from now on!
The post 5 Rules To Overcome Limitations appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
7 Important Things To Do To Travel Like A Local
For some people, traveling is about getting an authentic experience. It’s about learning genuine things about a place and its people.
While there are various ways to achieve that, every method provides a different level of exposure to people. Some prefer to go around a place in groups wearing matching outfits and led by a tourist guide with a flag. On the other hand, there are people who prefer to be low-key tourists when traveling.
Tourists must be at terms with the fact that they can never be locals when they are just visiting. This, however, doesn’t mean that they can’t experience a place as authentically as locals know it to be. To give you an idea, here are some tips to help you travel like a local.
Get to know the place in advance
It is handy for travelers to go to the library or use Google to research about the place they are planning to visit. Find blogs, reviews or comments from people who have been to the area and try to learn from their experiences. Knowing an area in advance is probably the most important preparation any traveler can do.
Don’t do a bus tour for the entire journey
If you really want to get more out of your trip, it’s best if you don’t fully rely on tours to take you everywhere that’s on your itinerary. Although bus tours are informative and entertaining, it will cause you to miss out on handling transactions on your own.
Some might think that’s a good thing since negotiating with other people and dealing with foreign currencies is intimidating and confusing. With package tours, a tourist will need not worry about itineraries, meals, tickets, transportation and stops. What they just need to do is join the tour.
Make friends with a local
It is common for travelers to visit a foreign land and not know anyone from the place. It is also quite difficult to befriend a stranger there since there isn’t any assurance of their trustworthiness. Despite this, you should still give it a try. Like with any type of interaction, being open while remaining alert and cautious will help.
Having a local friend is better than just going around with a tour guide. A local can help you find the best places in the area that can give you more than the usual tourist encounter.
And even though the world can sometimes be a scary place for people who wander, keep in mind that there are still people who won’t hesitate to lend a hand.
Find a host family
Staying in a hotel will put you in an area with a high concentration of tourists. Although convenient, this will not give you a legitimate feel of the place.
If you want to live like a local, even for just a short period, then you should consider living with the locals. As a solution, you can try looking for a host family. There are travel packages that can arrange your request. They will find willing and registered host families who can accommodate you while you’re in their area.
If you find it difficult to meet a reliable host, your next best option is to look for an Airbnb rental or anything similar to that. This kind of arrangement will provide you the opportunity to interact with the locals better.
See Also: 4 Smart Ways to Travel The World For Free
Take the public transportation
Some countries have confusing and even risky public transportation. That is why it is best for travelers to get to know a place beforehand so that they can have a good idea on how to go about the city. After all, it is better to use public transportation if you really want to experience what locals do and how they go about their everyday lives.
Dress the part
Another important reminder for anyone traveling to a different country is to dress the part. Get a feel of how it is to live locally by wearing something that fits the environment and the culture.
If a place is rather conservative, then dress conservatively. If it is alright to walk around the city in a plain t-shirt, a pair of slippers and shorts, then do that. Otherwise, a traveler would stick out of the crowd and look more like a tourist.
Learn key phrases and local customs
To facilitate better communication, learn some important local customs or even just a few words in the local tongue. Doing so will help you connect better to the people in the area.
Takeaway
Be ready to wander. Sometimes, it is good to take a little detour, change something in your itinerary, get lost a little or be spontaneous. Doing these things, however, does not mean you have to be reckless. Be cautious, but be ready to wander. That adds to the whole experience of traveling like a local.
See Also: Strange International Laws Every Tourist Should Know
The post 7 Important Things To Do To Travel Like A Local appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Conrad | Asturi Studios Design a Spacious Contemporary Home in Pebble Beach Resorts, California
Located in the exclusive area of Pebble Beach Resorts, between Monterey and Carmel in California, USA, this spectacular building consists of four rooms and covers an area of 4,176 square feet. It was designed by Conrad Sánchez and Edan Asturi of Conrad | Asturi Studios. In this magnificent construction, we can see the continuous use of concrete, from the terraces and fire pits to the facade and interiors. Its wonderful..
May 3rd
I shouldn’t think even millionaires could eat anything nicer than new bread and real butter and honey for tea.
Sig Nordal 